


Home is where the heart is

by Cartonsofcartoons



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, Most things unfriendly but also the most neutral thing I have ever written, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Steve Friendly, Not Wanda Friendly, Not really Avengers friendly, Which says very little about my neutrality, not team Cap friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-20 22:13:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14903078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cartonsofcartoons/pseuds/Cartonsofcartoons
Summary: She joined HYDRA because she wanted to kill Stark. That wasn’t why she stayed.





	Home is where the heart is

 

They joined HYDRA because they wanted to kill Stark. Hurt him, kill him, torture him. Anything they could do to hurt him. The powers HYDRA had given them were extraordinary but more importantly, _useful_.

 

Between Pietro’s speed and her own mind bending, they could have found their way into the world at any time. Could have just up and left to go find Stark on their own instead of waiting for him to come to them as HYDRA instructed them to.

 

They had joined HYDRA because they wanted to kill Stark. But that wasn’t why they stayed. Pietro stayed for her, because she was still learning how to control her powers. Or at least, he _thought_ she was. Wanda let him believe that because she could see into his mind and saw that he wasn’t ready to accept the truth she had accepted.

 

Wanda stayed because she _believed_ in HYDRA.

 

* * *

 

Ultron was going to destroy the whole of Earth. That wouldn’t do, Hive had plans for Earth, had spoken to her in her mind of them. Wanda couldn’t let him come home to a planet barren of life, HYDRA had to prevail but they needed people to be alive to do it.

 

So she sought the Avengers with her brother, hating what she had to do but dedicated to her cause. Pietro didn’t need much persuasion, although he wasn’t thinking along the same lines as her. He wanted to save the people of Sokovia who had already suffered so much and Wanda was saddened immensely. There was  a time when Pietro and she had been so closely connected and now their paths had diverged so much.

 

They would fight to save the world, even if they did it for different reasons.

 

* * *

 

Pietro was dead and part of her had died with him. He died saving the citizens of Sokovia, those idiots who hadn’t said a word as Wanda and Pietro’s parents died, who had complained and tried to get rid of HYDRA as much as they could. Her brother, dead in defence of those worthless ants and Wanda couldn't protest, could do nothing but mourn.

 

 _'He died an honourable death’,_ the god damned soldier who defeated Red Skull had told her.

 

 _‘I_ _t should have been me.’,_ The archer said, morose, and in the privacy of her mind Wanda agreed.

 

The Black Widow said nothing only patted Wanda’s shoulder absently.

 

The Hulk had gone off to parts unknown and the Asgardian didn’t even look at her, too busy with the synthetic person housing the Sceptre’s stone.

 

 _‘I’m sorry your brother died.’,_ Tony Stark said and Wanda nearly believed him.

 

Pietro was dead and now HYDRA was all she had. And well, she had been taught infiltration by the same folks who had created the Black Widows for a reason.

 

* * *

 

The Avengers were a rather pathetic bunch. Liars and thieves, pathetic in so many ways. At least Wanda had earned her accommodations at HYDRA by murdering their enemies, the Avengers contributed so little with the Widow, Falcon and Captain America taking off every so often for no plausible reason.

 

Captain America, that pathetic excuse of a Enhanced. Red Skull would have to do much to regain his reputation, being defeated by such a sorry excuse of a fighter was quite humiliating. The man was just so easy to play. She had put on the show of vulnerability as she had been taught and no one had caught on, not the Black Widow, not Falcon and not Steve Rogers. Instead, the man was all but showering her in unearned praise and gratitude, falling over himself to ‘save’ her.

 

It was probably something to do with _Soldat_. Everyone in HYDRA had known of the man’s obsession with the Asset. While Wanda was 'practising' using her powers in the the Compound, her colleagues were probably having a ball of a time leading the man on a wild goose chase. She wished she could be with them, wished she could talk to Madame Hydra for her guidance. Madame Hydra was the only one Wanda admired, the only one other than her who had heard Hive.

 

But Wanda was far more useful in the midst of the Avengers, keeping an eye on Captain America, and the Mind Stone and the person housing it. Perhaps the synthezoid might be manipulated to their cause, after all, it was the same Stone that helped her grow to be the person she was now. Perhaps Vision could be the third person to hear Hive.

 

But he was very firmly on Stark’s side. The AI that had made up one part of him, had him looking to Stark for guidance, which the man provided without hesitation. And he did a very good job of it, Vision’s mind wasn’t as developed as others but it was getting there fast. Stark had gifted him with some gadget, loaded with information and it was helping him grow.

 

Stark, who had been wary of her and managed, somehow, to lock his mind away from her. Wanda didn’t know how he had done it but his mind was a blank space she could not breach. She was at once impressed and angry about it.

 

In all honesty, he was the only one of the lot she respected, albeit reluctantly. She still considered him responsible for her parents’ death but the hate was difficult to maintain in the face of such idiocy from the others surrounding her.

 

As Steve had been consoling her that Lagos wasn’t her fault, she had spread her powers out, listening in others’ mind. Stark was talking to some staff member in the compound, asking him how it was possible that she could have controlled so many minds in Sokovia to ‘nudge’ them to go to the safety of the helicarriers, using her powers to calm them down when they grew hysterical, yet somehow unable to calm down Crossbones enough to keep him from setting off the bomb.

 

He was the only one who had noticed, who had questioned it.

 

What a waste of a mind, she thought, and Hive agreed.

 

* * *

 

Wakanda was dull for all the information she was managing to gather on it. Hive had been more than a little interested in vibranium and its properties, in this country that had stayed hidden and isolated for so long. Wanda learnt as much as she could to help ‘keep her mind off things.’

 

Steve Rogers smiled and told her it would get better soon, that they’d be home soon and Wanda sniffled on the outside while rolling her eyes inwardly. Home was HYDRA, nothing else.

 

She wished she could have pretended to go along with Stark’s faction but no one would have beleived it, Stark least of all. His ‘imprisonment’ of her was the perfect excuse and she was free again with the help of Hawkeye, that terribly gullible man who was far too interested in her. It was because she was the only one who had survived Pietro, she knew, but his hand holding was unwelcome, for all that she didn’t show it.

 

There was a moment of worry when the collar inhibited her powers and there was silence all around, the echo of Hive’s whispers disappearing into nothingness, but Captain America saved the day.

 

Not that Wanda couldn’t have saved herself, of course, they underestimated her terribly thinking that her powers were the only skills she had. She could hold her own against the Black Widows if need be, the actual ones from the reformed Red Room, not just the escapee who bore the title now, and Wanda would have only needed to calm herself down for a bit before doing so. She was still glad Rogers had broken them out, though.

 

It saved her from exposing her true skills. And the fact of the matter was, nothing compared to the impact Rogers’ actions must have had on the world outside Wakandan borders. He had proven the Enhanced folk needed to be controlled, in the pandemonium that would follow as people fought for the Accords, many other Enhanced would be forced to reveal themselves and HYDRA would collect them as and when that happened.

 

After all, people reacted very badly to anyone out of the ordinary, anything _freak-ish_. And along would come HYDRA with its open hands and unconditional acceptance to welcome them.

 

She only wished she could see it.

 

* * *

 

Wanda hadn’t expected this. Hadn’t expected a threat so large that the world would come together and call a ceasefire between all its warring factions. Hadn’t expected Captain America and her fellow ‘ScAvengers’ to be called for the ‘good fight’, hadn’t expected a pardon and a summons.

 

She most definitely hadn’t expected to see Madame Hydra waiting for them as the jet holding them touched down, Stark in his Iron Man armour there as well but standing a good distance away.

 

Not that any of them recognised her. Madam Hydra’s name hadn’t been in the info dump. She was _far_ too important for that.

 

“Are you with the Accords, _Ma’am_?” Rogers asked and Wanda was hard pressed to keep from laughing. As it was, her mouth twitched of its own accord, Stark noticing the movement and mirroring it with a smirk of his own. He knew what had caused her laughter.

 

Which meant that Stark knew that she was Madame Hydra.

 

“I am here to collect my subordinate.” Madame Hydra said simply and shot her a welcoming smile. Wanda felt the tension melt away, _finally_ she could take her place, and be done with this pretence. With more than a little relief she made her way to Madame’s side.

 

“Wanda?” Rogers said with a plaintive childish whine, and the former Asset’s metal arm rose as the recognition came to him.

 

“Madame Hydra,” The man Rogers called ‘Bucky’ spat out and her mentor smiled.

 

“Asset.”

 

The ScAvengers took battle positions even as Wanda grinned.

 

“Don’t worry Wanda, we’ll save you.” Rogers announced.

 

“From what? My _true_ commanding officer?” Wanda said, hearing the smile in her own voice driving her happiness higher.

 

“Wha-?”

 

Stark finally spoke, “She’s HYDRA, you idiot, always was.”

 

“I knew the Accords couldn’t be trusted,” Rogers spat out, “Working with these-”

 

“If they have to work with you despite all the people _you’ve_ killed in Bucharest and Leipzig, why do you think HYDRA would be spared the same mercy? After all, they want to save the world too, and with Thanos coming we can’t just refuse help, no matter what form it comes in. Whether it’s a successful lab experiment from the forties, or a villainous organisation that first came to light in the forties.”

 

“You were right Rogers,” Wanda said , her smile only growing as she heard Hive speak to her and Madame Hydra, “We’re finally _home_.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to write something Wanda unfriendly without her being batshit crazy and unstable. I've written her like that very often, just as a person who's either in the process of losing their mind or has lost it completely, and I feel like it lends itself to being an excuse very easily. And HYDRA obviously doesn't have any shortage of followers, and those agents are not crazy in particular, so it's not much of a stretch to believe Wanda agreed with their ideals beyond just getting the powers she wanted without being cuckoo. People don't have to be mad to be bad.
> 
> So, in this story she’s not crazy or traumatised or under the sceptre’s control, she’s just a shit person with shit ideology.


End file.
